Home Satellite Setup with 3 LNBs, a Single Dish and a MultiSwitch

gaelicyoda

Hi All,

I'm a total newbie to satellites (I've never owned or configured one before), but am thinking about getting the house set up with satellite, and hoping it is something I can do myself.

From reading these boards, I think I know now what I might need in order to get satellite into (and distributed throughout) the house. There's 2 TVs in the house at the moment. This is a diagram of what I think it might look like:



But a few questions come up in relation to it.

(1) Does the setup above look okay to anyone in the know?

(2) Are Astra-1 and Eutelsat Hotbird actually worth getting?

I'm not really in to sports, I don't speak French and have limited German. I'd imagine flicking through all those channels when browsing would get to be a pain in the ass fairly quickly. Does anyone just find them to be 'filler'?
To exclude them would mean two less LNBs and a simpler multiswitch...

(3) Would I be better off replacing the (existing) single TV output wall plates with diplexing TV/SAT/DAB ones altogether?

(4) Am still in 2 minds about the Ferguson Ariva 250... the 7-day EPG on a freesat box would be handy, but is it worth the extra $$$?

dharn

cannot really answer you question , but i am thinking of getting dish and setup to watch 28e and saorsat just for convience of combined epg on a humax box was thinking of going with the other sats but i dont think it is worth the bother , if like me you dont watch sports and dont speak french or german, many of the people on here seem to go to desperate lengths to get free sport,..alzjeera + radio 5 for commentary etc !!

gaelicyoda

dharn wrote: »

cannot really answer you question , but i am thinking of getting dish and setup to watch 28e and saorsat just for convience of combined epg on a humax box was thinking of going with the other sats but i dont think it is worth the bother , if like me you dont watch sports and dont speak french or german, many of the people on here seem to go to desperate lengths to get free sport,..alzjeera + radio 5 for commentary etc !!

Thanks dharn... yeah, not a lot jumping out at me I have to say:

Eutelsat Hotbird (13.0E): http://www.lyngsat.com/Eutelsat-Hot-Bird-13A-13B-13C.html
Astra-1 (19.2E): http://www.lyngsat.com/Astra-1KR-1L-1M-2C.html

There might be more of a case for Astra-1 with the likes of MTV & VH1, but not much redeeming Hotbird as far as I can see...

Peter Rhea

gaelicyoda wrote: »

(2) Are Astra-1 and Eutelsat Hotbird actually worth getting?

You can check out what's available on them & other sats. in this list

To exclude them would mean two less LNBs and a simpler multiswitch...

Yes, a quad lnb + 4-way satellite/terrestrial combiner would provide 4 satellite feeds with terrestrial signal on each, with no need for any kind of multiswitch. You could do the same for 8 feeds with an octo lnb & 2 combiners, but at that stage, I would think you'd be approaching the price of a 5 x 8 multiswitch & suitable lnb, which would be a tidier solution for 8 feeds.

Of course, if all your tv points already have 2 or 3 coaxial cables going to them, you can feed satellite & terrestrial signals separately with no need for combiners or multiswitches.

gaelicyoda

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Yes, a quad lnb + 4-way satellite/terrestrial combiner would provide 4 satellite feeds with terrestrial signal on each, with no need for any kind of multiswitch. You could do the same for 8 feeds with an octo lnb & 2 combiners, but at that stage, I would think you'd be approaching the price of a 5 x 8 multiswitch & suitable lnb, which would be a tidier solution for 8 feeds.

Cheers Peter. Yeah, I think I'd like to just keep it tidy really, and I like the idea of knowing if I want to move the TV, I just have to change TV points rather than go up into the attic and start tinkering around with wires (admittedly, I know there would be very little involved, but still...). There's 12 TV points in the house, so I'd probably stick with the 16-Out multiswitch. The variable for me at this stage is the amount of inputs it should have...

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Of course, if all your tv points already have 2 or 3 coaxial cables going to them, you can feed satellite & terrestrial signals separately with no need for combiners or multiswitches.

That's the bummer though - only have single coaxial cable to each TV point, so whatever solution I come up with has to be based on that - there's no way I'm messing up the house for this :-)

If it was a thing that I did want 2 feeds to go to each receiver (depending on what receiver I eventually decide on) I think I would have to use a stacker/destacker configuration in that case.

dicey2

gaelicyoda wrote: »

Hi All,

I'm a total newbie to satellites (I've never owned or configured one before), but am thinking about getting the house set up with satellite, and hoping it is something I can do myself.

From reading these boards, I think I know now what I might need in order to get satellite into (and distributed throughout) the house. There's 2 TVs in the house at the moment. This is a diagram of what I think it might look like:



But a few questions come up in relation to it.

(1) Does the setup above look okay to anyone in the know?

(2) Are Astra-1 and Eutelsat Hotbird actually worth getting?

I'm not really in to sports, I don't speak French and have limited German. I'd imagine flicking through all those channels when browsing would get to be a pain in the ass fairly quickly. Does anyone just find them to be 'filler'?
To exclude them would mean two less LNBs and a simpler multiswitch...

(3) Would I be better off replacing the (existing) single TV output wall plates with diplexing TV/SAT/DAB ones altogether?

(4) Am still in 2 minds about the Ferguson Ariva 250... the 7-day EPG on a freesat box would be handy, but is it worth the extra $$$?

well done great pic - you have it sorted

re your questions

1) no prblems there
2) i use astra 19 to watch Sky movies - its another alternative to sky movies uk. some are in german but a lot in english. i also have hotbird which i use for 3pm footie and xxx channels
3) up to you
4) not a bad box. had it myself along with a opticum x7 and 9600, technomate 6902 and 7102 and now I have an Amiko 8820. For €125 I would go with teh Amiko. far better box imo than the 250
www.amikostb.com

gaelicyoda

dicey2 wrote: »

well done great pic

Thanks dicey - powerpoint is a wonderful thing!

dicey2 wrote: »

2) i use astra 19 to watch Sky movies - its another alternative to sky movies uk. some are in german but a lot in english. i also have hotbird which i use for 3pm footie and xxx channels

Interesting! I thought all the Sky Movies channels were via Astra-2 (28.2E) - and encrypted? Was trying to find that channel here and I think it must be Sky Select... looks to be the only one unencrypted (not like them to given anything away for free!). Looking at the site though, looks like you need to log in - might be PPV - so I might have the wrong channel?

That going well though, looks like Astra-1 might be safe, but the writing could be on the wall for Hotbird...

dicey2 wrote: »

4) not a bad box. had it myself along with a opticum x7 and 9600, technomate 6902 and 7102 and now I have an Amiko 8820. For €125 I would go with teh Amiko. far better box imo than the 250
www.amikostb.com

Can I ask what makes you say that? Just that the user experience is better, or a better feature set, etc... (is this the one you mean, yeah?)
I only ask because I think the 250 is less than €125

Peter Rhea

gaelicyoda wrote: »

I think it must be Sky Select... looks to be the only one unencrypted

The unencrypted 'Sky Select' is a radio channel.

The only FTA English language tv you'll find at 19 east are the international news channels that are at just about every satellite position.

gaelicyoda

Peter Rhea wrote: »

The unencrypted 'Sky Select' is a radio channel.

Umm... are you sure? The page above seem be indicating that it's a TV channel, but also says it's in German :-(

This link should show all FTA channels in English:
http://en.kingofsat.net/freqs.php?&pos=19.2E&standard=All&ordre=freq&filtre=Clear&cl=eng

... and this link should show all FTA channels in German:
http://en.kingofsat.net/freqs.php?&pos=19.2E&standard=All&ordre=freq&filtre=Clear&cl=ger

Johnboy1951

I am planning a similar set up here .... using one existing quad LNB and DTT aerial ...... to 5/12 multiswitch ..... and single cable to most TV points ...... with a couple of TV points getting two cables to facilitate recording satellite.

The arrangement I hope to make is to bring in the 5 cables through the attic and down to a central closet from where the distribution will be done.

I might find it interesting to trawl though some foreign satellite stations sometimes, but there is nothing on there I 'need' so I am not going to bother with more than the one satellite.

Peter Rhea

gaelicyoda wrote: »

Umm... are you sure? The page above seem be indicating that it's a TV channel, but also says it's in German :-(

I scanned that transponder for 'free' channels & all my receiver found was a radio station named 'Sky Select' . . .

A lot of those channels in the 'English' list are actually encrypted (the likes of Canal+). 'Clear', listed along with all the encryption types, probably just points to occasional programming or promos.

The rest are mostly just the international news & religious channels. My receiver crashes when I scan for Servus TV, so I can't comment on that one.

gaelicyoda

Peter Rhea wrote: »

I scanned that transponder for 'free' channels & all my receiver found was a radio station named 'Sky Select' . . .

A lot of those channels in the 'English' list are actually encrypted (the likes of Canal+). 'Clear', listed along with all the encryption types, probably just points to occasional programming or promos.

The rest are mostly just the international news & religious channels. My receiver crashes when I scan for Servus TV, so I can't comment on that one.

Okay, thanks for clarifying Peter.
So dicey, what movie channel might that be that you've found on there?
If there's no shot at that then I might not get 19.0E either...

Peter Rhea

Dicey must have a sub. with Sky Deutschland.

dicey2

gaelicyoda wrote: »

Okay, thanks for clarifying Peter.
So dicey, what movie channel might that be that you've found on there?
If there's no shot at that then I might not get 19.0E either...

Sorry i should have clarified - the German SKY Movies are subscription

Peter Rhea

gaelicyoda wrote: »

If there's no shot at that then I might not get 19.0E either...

Some of the satellites broadcasting to the Middle East & North Africa carry English-language content (think you're stuck with Arabic subtitles, though). Badr 4 at 26 degrees east would be your best shot. There's the MBC channels & Dubai One.

You'd need a dish of at least 1 metre & I'm not sure how 28 east would work out on the same dish, as both positions are so close together. There are a couple of threads in the forum about such setups, but I don't think there's much to be learned from reading them tbh. I investigated reception at my own location, a few months back, with a Triax 110cm dish on a temporary setup & the results were encouraging. Finding a suitable, permanent location for the dish proved to be another matter, so I don't have any long term experience of receiving this satellite.

gaelicyoda

dicey2 wrote: »

Sorry i should have clarified - the German SKY Movies are subscription

Ah! ...
Thanks for clarifying dicey

gaelicyoda

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Some of the satellites broadcasting to the Middle East & North Africa carry English-language content (think you're stuck with Arabic subtitles, though). Badr 4 at 26 degrees east would be your best shot. There's the MBC channels & Dubai One.

You'd need a dish of at least 1 metre & I'm not sure how 28 east would work out on the same dish, as both positions are so close together. There are a couple of threads in the forum about such setups, but I don't think there's much to be learned from reading them tbh. I investigated reception at my own location, a few months back, with a Triax 110cm dish on a temporary setup & the results were encouraging. Finding a suitable, permanent location for the dish proved to be another matter, so I don't have any long term experience of receiving this satellite.

Thanks Peter - it's starting to sound like a lot more effort than it's worth at this stage I reckon! I only plan on mounting the dish to the back of the house, so a whopper like that will be avoided if at all possible I'd say... sounds like a bit of a burglar magnet :-)

Looks like 13.0E and 19.2E are out and 28.2E is in!

So looks like I have my setup sussed now - I just want to thank everyone for their contributions to this thread... you've saved me money and effort guys - and it's much appreciated!

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I might find it interesting to trawl though some foreign satellite stations sometimes, but there is nothing on there I 'need' so I am not going to bother with more than the one satellite.

Right on Johnboy!

zg3409

It would be worth testing your existing cabling to see if it up to the job or carrying satellite.

Check if it has a copper core, a copper weave and copper foil. Also check for damage and tight bends. Adding a displexer to seperate satellite and terrestrial will also give some losses.

If you existing cabling is not suitable for satellite signals then that could cause a dampner. A stronger signal (in the form of a larger dish) might help. Sky normally just run cables on the outside of the house and drill through at the nearest point.